1. Technical Field
The present invention relates, generally, to dwelling structures and, more particularly, multi-story dwellings (e.g., apartment buildings and the like) incorporating a cost effective, efficient, and high unit-density attached garage configuration.
2. Background Information
The price of vacant land in dense, urbanized areas has increased dramatically in recent years. As a result, the cost of developing land in central core areas has proven to be a significant barrier to entry for most developers, particularly where multi-family residential developments are concerned.
In order to overcome the high cost of land in such areas, virtually all projects built in major metropolitan areas during this decade have resorted to various undesirable and expensive methods. Such methods include, for example, high-density housing projects developed with government sponsorship or subsidies, and/or high-density housing projects employing a combination of small dwelling units with a centralized parking structure unconnected to the dwelling units. The latter solution is substantially more expensive and generally results in a less desirable, and therefore less marketable, end product.
While residential structures with integral, private garages are known, such structures are undesirable in a number of respects. For example, such systems require more buildings and/or a larger building footprints to achieve the same number of units, yielding a lower overall site density, and increasing the cost of land and other fixed development costs on a per unit basis.
Furthermore, known structures yield a smaller average unit size and/or fewer two and three-bedroom units (i.e., more studio and/or one-bedroom units), with less rentable building square footage per acre of land.
In addition, known structures tend to sacrifice dwelling-access from private garages to many or all of the units. That is, these buildings use remote exterior access and/or common corridors to access individual units. Such designs require larger sites (e.g., on the order of five acres or more) to accomplish the same construction and/or operating economies. Such structures may also include a large number of stories, increasing its height, and requiring an elevator and/or expensive non-combustible construction.
Methods are therefore needed in order to overcome these and other limitations of the prior art. Specifically, there is a long-felt need for a marketable, cost-effective, attached-garage, multi-family architectural design with the highest possible yield using the most compact building footprint. Furthermore, it is desirable to create a more attractive, highly marketable, and costeffective product design which is financially feasible on small and/or irregular parcels of land.
In accordance with the present invention, a high-efficiency residential structure includes a set of dwelling units, wherein a portion of said dwelling units are first-floor dwelling units and a portion of said dwelling units are second-floor dwelling units; a set of garages comprising a plurality of parking spaces, wherein said dwelling units and said garages are disposed within a footprint associated with said residential structure; a set of interior passageways, each of said interior passageways directly linking one of said dwelling units to one of said garages such that the site-density, yield, direct-access ratio, and efficiency of the structure is substantially optimized.
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a multi-story structure includes fourteen dwelling units per building, with eleven attached single-car garages and two attached two-car garages.
Accordingly, structures in accordance with various aspects of the present invention provide for: 1) higher overall site densities, reducing the cost of land and other fixed development operating costs on a per-unit basis; 2) enhanced resident convenience, safety, and security; 3) higher net livable building square-footage per acre of land; 4) increased unit-mix with more two and three-bedroom units; 5) uncommonly compact building footprint offering excellent site design flexibility, creating an opportunity to develop small, irregular and/or otherwise undevelopable parcels of land; 6) lower construction costs than projects with a centralized concrete parking structure and/or projects requiring elevators or non-combustible construction; 7) enhanced compatibility with adjacent single-family neighborhoods, hence greater political and municipal agency acceptance for land use and zoning purposes; 8) potentially higher long-term property values; and 9) excellent condominium-conversion potential.